_Pevensey._--Pevensey Castle is associated with the earliest history of
Britain. Upon its site stood the Roman Camp of Anderida, oval in shape,
and obviously adapted to surface configuration. It is the reputed site
of the landing of Caesar. The British occupied it when the Romans left,
and here occurred the great massacre by the South Saxons under Ella in
477. In 1066 William I. landed at Pevensey and erected one of his
portable wooden castles, probably within the Roman Camp. The Castle
came to his half-brother Robert, Earl of Mortaign, who considerably
strengthened the existing remains. The supposition that he erected a
Motte and Bailey castle seems to be negatived by recent investigations.
The Castle was held by Bishop Odo against the forces of Rufus for six
weeks in 1088, but was surrendered, Odo promising to give up Rochester,
which promise he subsequently violated. King Stephen besieged it in
person in the war with the Empress Maud, when it was defended by
Gilbert, Earl of Clare, and only surrendered through famine. It came to
the Crown during the thirteenth century, and John of Gaunt appointed the
Pelham family to be castellans. In 1399, Sir John of that name, an
adherent of Bolingbroke, was absent when the Castle was besieged by the
king's forces, but his wife, the Lady Jane, conducted an historical
defence with such gallantry that the assailants retired. Pevensey
appears to have been used as a State prison, and within it many notable
persons have been incarcerated, including Edward Duke of York, James I.
of Scotland, and Joan of Navarre, second queen of Henry IV.
A large proportion of the Roman wall surrounding the oval site is still
in excellent preservation; it is strengthened by fifteen drum towers of
great solidity. The height ranges between 20 and 30 feet, and upon the
summits may still be perceived some of the strengthening Norman masonry.
The inner castle is a remarkable feature of the enclosure; it is
supposed to have been erected at the end of the thirteenth century, and
one of the towers dates from the time of Edward II. It forms an
irregular pentagon, each angle being strengthened by a massive drum
tower; two semicircular towers flank the entrance, of which one only
remains in good condition. The masonry of the drawbridge is still to be
seen, and the entrance passage with portcullis grooves and meurtrière
openings are in good condition. The great Roman wall has been utilised
to form portions of the eastern and southern sides, but this suffered in
the time of Elizabeth, when a part of it was blown up by gunpowder.
CHAPTER IV
THE MOTTE AND BAILEY CASTLE, _c._ 1066-_c._ 1100
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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